U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,379 describes a generic group of 1-phenyl-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-3-benzazepines related to the present invention. More specifically, the patent at column 1, line 35 describes the structures of the compounds as having a "functional sulfur containing group such as lower alkylthio, sulfonyl or sulfinyl groups" substituted as a floating substituent on the 1-phenyl ring. Lower alkyl is defined to include "straight or branched alkyl groups having 1 to 5 carbon atoms". Preference is expressed for certain methylthio, sulfinyl or sulfonyl substituents at column 2 of the patent. The m-methylsulfonyl containing structures were also described as one of a group of species of note, column 2, structure II. No higher alkylsulfonyl or alkylthiophenyl containing structures are disclosed or exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,379.
Moderate dopaminergic activities of selected species are described in the patent with ED.sub.15 values of 40-130 .mu.g/kg in the anesthetized renal dog protocol which is a test protocol used in this art to demonstrate dopaminergic activity.